WEEKENDER the Second Destruction of the HMS Aboukir
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Saturday, October 22, 2011 Page 11 WEEKENDER The second destruction of the HMS Aboukir HERITAGE MATTERS DR EDWARD HARRIS ‘Underwater Cultural Her- was in Bermuda in earlier itage encompasses all traces decades when there was at least of human existence that lie one outfit here that purchased or were lying under water such ‘scrap’ materials for ship- HMS Aboukir, a Cressy Class cruiser, launched in 1900, pictured about 1905. and have a cultural or his- ping overseas. torical character. Recognis- That is perhaps why bronze teers. ing the urgent need to propellers are now missing from Of our 22 year old man off the preserve and protect such historic and picturesque ship- Dutch coast, it is likely he enlist- heritage, UNESCO elaborat- wrecks in local waters, to say ed in the Royal Navy, being: ed in 2001 the Convention on nothing of ‘disappeared’ port- “SMITH, William Edmund, the Protection of the Under- holes and other features of met- L/1874, 1st class cook, R.N., lost water Cultural Heritage. — al on those carcases of the on HMS Aboukir 1914, Septem- UNESCO website 2011 misfortunes of others. ber 22, a coloured man, believed Nearer to Britain, where we to have been the first Bermudi- The continuing global reces- sent hundreds of our young men an to lose his life in this war, son sion and the sharp increase in in the two World Wars, some of of William Felix Smith and his the value of precious and semi- whom died on the soils of The wife Emma Jane, née Douglas, of precious metals represents a Netherlands or nearby, Dutch Harmon’s Hill, Somerset, bap- worldwide threat to heritage salvage operators are enacting tised 1893, June 4, at St James sites, both on land and under the the second destruction of HMS Church, Sandys. Mrs Smith re- seas and oceans. Aboukir, the war grave site ceived a letter signed by Mr The looting of archaeological (many would say, sacred) of over Winston Churchill, conveying sites on land will undoubtedly 500 men, including William Ed- the sympathy of the King and continue apace, as rich and poor mund Smith, the first Bermudi- Queen.” alike take part in the finding an to give his life in the First The designation L/1874 may and marketing of artefacts, par- World War. indicate that William Smith ticularly from prehistoric con- War graves on land are con- may have enrolled here first in texts in arenas such as South sidered to be sacred territory one of the local forces before the America and West Africa. and the Commonwealth War War. The poor take part by looting Graves Commission and respec- Termed the ‘Live Bait for a few pennies for their sur- tive governments place great Squadron’ because of their age, vival bank, the rich by buying il- emphasis on the maintenance HMS Aboukir, HMS Cressy, and licit works of art, banking on and preservation of such sites in HMS Hogue of the Seventh such objects as inflation-proof in honour of those who gave their Cruiser Squadron were on pa- times when the real banks pay lives for our future freedoms. trol in the early morning of practically no interest on de- Underwater sites, being un- Tuesday, 22 September 1914, posits, yet lend your money out dercover (not to say underworld) when U-9, a German submarine at high rates. as it were, are perhaps less well commanded by Lt Otto Weddi- Due to the high price of gold monitored, as exemplified by the gen fired a torpedo at Aboukir, and silver, antiquities and pre- ripping apart of HMS Aboukir in which sank in 20 minutes with cious objects, such as family sil- recent months, for the extraction the loss of 527 men, including ver and heirlooms, stand to be of industrial metals. the Bermudian Smith. stolen and melted down to satis- The sacredness of the site in Stopping to pick up survivors fy the lust for a quite buck. the sands off the Dutch coast re- (thinking the Aboukir struck a With “send us your gold and lates to the first few weeks of mine), the Cressy and Hogue silver and we’ll send you cash” the Great War (1914—18), the were then sent to the bottom as operations proliferating, Bermu- start of which for the British well; in all, 1459 men were lost The HMS Aboukir Monument on the shore of the English Channel at Southsea, near Portsmouth. da may not be immune from the Commonwealth began on fourth in the 90-minute attack. latest criminal assaults on ob- of that month in the late sum- While it is no consolation, the jects of cultural heritage. mer of 1914, as immortalised in fact is that the ‘incident estab- Under the sea, the race to the title and content of Barbara lished the U-boat as a major find and ransack the next ship- Tuchman’s classic book, The weapon in the conduct of naval wreck with bullion of some sort Guns of August, being a history warfare’. or another aboard appears also of the first month of the conflict. A number of naval associa- to be on the increase, as unfortu- When the guns fell silent four tions have lodged objections to nately, contrary to the behest of years later at the eleventh hour the desecration of these war UNESCO, anything goes in the of the eleventh day of the sites by the Dutch salvage com- free-for-all underwater world of eleventh month in 1918 (com- panies. ‘international waters’, the em- memorated as Remembrance Archaeologists, such as one phasis being on short term cash Day, 11 November annually), Andy Brockman, are also firing returns versus the long term some 35 million people were salvos across Dutch bows: “In preservation and economic value dead or wounded, including case you have not seen today’s for tourism use of cultural finds some six million allied troops of Times [27 September 2011], the from under the sea. which 80 were Bermudians of violation of the three ships has Salvage of shipwrecks for less the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle been condemned by the Ministry valuable metals, such as copper Corps, the Bermuda Militia Ar- of Defence, and the Dutch cul- and bronze, seems also to be a tillery and other services: nearly tural agency. returning fashion, much as it all the Bermudians were volun- On a practical level, the ships A commemorative card for a member of the losing side, perhaps William Smith’s mother received one. alleged to be carrying out the lating to the lost of Bermudian on the Protection of the Under- raids have been identified as the William Edmund Smith, aside water Cultural Heritage, and MS Bernica and MS Bela based from the Aboukir Monument at we, being a Dependent Territory in Scheveningen. Southsea near Portsmouth, for of the United Kingdom, fall into However, the Dutch Coast- in the nature of things, descen- that category. guard are quoted as being un- dants here have little or nothing On Remembrance Day, spare able to act in spite of the vessels in the way of material mementos a thought for William Edmund being seen on site by a Dutch of their ancestor, not even a pho- Smith, who, if he was trapped in aircraft and wreckage being tograph. HMS Aboukir when he met his found on the salvage ships by As we approach Remem- Maker, has probably been rolled Dutch Police. brance Day 2011, the Aboukir over in his grave (after 97 years The UK Ministry of Defence affair and other recent underwa- of peace) by those seeking a fast is quoted as making efforts with ter salvage work again raises Euro at the expense of others the Dutch authorities to prevent the question as to what price we who gave their all to defend and ‘inappropriate activity’.” place as a world community on liberate Holland from German Not only are sites like that of underwater cultural heritage, domination in the two World HMS Aboukir, Cressy and Hogue especially as much pertains to Wars. cultural heritage, but they are the grave sites of mariners and Edward Cecil Harris, MBE, JP, the sites of serious social her- others. PHD, FSA is Executive Director of itage. Many otherwise enlightened the National Museum at Dock- The commemorative card for the winning side, featuring the commander of the Kaiser’s submarine In this instance, the Aboukir lands have yet, after a decade, to yard. Comments may be made to U-9. is the last tangible remains re- ratify the UNESCO Convention [email protected] or 704-5480..